Nonfiction Text Features Help Students Understand Nonfiction Text

Nonfiction • Text Features Help Students Understand Nonfiction Text Understanding Nonfiction Text Inside • Examples of Text Features • Features With Definitions • Explanations for how Text Features Help Readers

What are text Features? • Authors include text features to help readers better understand what they have read. • Text features provide information that may not be written in the text itself. • Text features can be found in textbooks, magazine articles, newspapers, reports, web pages, and other forms of nonfiction text.

1. Table of Contents Chapter 1: All About Animals Animal Adaptations Page 1 Animal Food Animal Habitats Animal Homes Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Chapter 2: All About Plants Photosynthesis Types of Plants Page 5 Page 6 Where would a reader find information where an animal lives? • List the major parts of a book along with their page numbers. • It outlines the main topics or main points. • Readers can use the table of contents to help locate information in the book and see how everything is organized.

2. Index A Abu Simbel, temple of, p 73 Acadia, Canada, 212 -213 Acid rain, 396 Animal Adaptations p 1 Animal Food p 2 Animal Habitats p 3 Animal Homes p 5 Where would a reader find information in the text about acid rain? • Is an alphabetical listing of the key names, terms, events, and topics with page numbers. • Readers use the index to help find pages that contain information they are looking for. • The index is usually at the end of a text

3. Glossary A Acid rain (AS ihd rayn) rain that carries certain kind of pollution. Adapt (uh DAPT) to change in order to survive in new environments * How would the glossary help the reader understand text bout animal adaptations? • A list of key terms in alphabetical order. • Each key word is defined. • Sometimes a glossary also tells you how to pronounce a word. • Readers use the glossary to look up key terms to find out their meaning. This helps the reader better learn and understand the subject. • The glossary is usually found at the end of a text

4. Titles What do the titles of the articles in these magazines tell you? • Titles tell the reader the topic of the text. • Titles show the main idea of the text. • Titles help the reader by letting them know what they are about to read. • Titles focus the reader on a topic they can make connections between what they already know and the text.

5. Subheadings ANTS Helpful Ants Although ants are frustrating when they get in homes, ants do help the environment. They help control the population of damaging pests such as termites. Types of Ants Types of ants include fire ants, which cause a painful sting, and carpenter ants, which damage wood structures while nest building. Other types of ants include honey, pharaoh, house, Argentine, and their ant. • Subheadings divide the text into sections. • Subheadings tell the main idea of each section of text. • They are printed in large or bold type to make them stand out. • Subheadings help the reader to locate information in the text by telling them where to look.

6. Text Styles (Bold, Color, & Italics) The Wetlands of the South Why are the South’s wetlands so important? The Okefenokee (oh kuh fuh NOH kee) Swamp is a large wetland in the South. A wetland is a place where the ground is soaked with water for at least part of the year. How do the words in italics help the reader understand the text? • The style and color of the text sends the reader signals about how to read the content. • Key words to notice are in bold or in color. • Text in italics is used in picture captions, book titles, and any other element that needs to stand out. • Text in bold, color, or italics draw the readers attention to important information.

7. Photographs and Illustrations How might these photos help the reader understand the text? • Photos and illustrations give information in a visual way. • They help tell the story. • They work with the words and headings to help teach material. • They help the reader understand an idea from the text that was unclear.

8. Diagrams • Physical Characteristic of the Shark • A diagram is a drawing that shows or explains something. • To understand a diagram the reader should read the titles, labels, captions, and numbered parts. • Diagrams help the reader understand steps, how objects are made, or information in the text.

9. Chart • A chart is a graphical representation of data.

10. Timeline of Great White Shark Attacks in California • • 4/25/08 8/15/04 8/19/03 12/9/94 4/16/94 1/26/89 9/15/84 California California How would a timeline help a reader understand an article about Great White Sharks? • Timelines show important events in chronological order or time order. • Timelines help the reader better understand the order of events and how one event may have lead to another.

11. Maps The Range of the Great White Shark What does the above map display? How does it help you understand Great White Sharks? • Maps are drawings that show the basic shape of the land other geographical, political, or historical features. • The present information in a visual form. • They help the reader understand where an event happens. • They help the reader understand how far away an event took place.

Great White Shark Map

12. Tables REPTILES AMPHIBIANS Scales. Many reptiles shed their skin, having grown new Skin. It is thin and skin underneath it. Snakes & needs to be kept moist. Covering most lizards do not have Assists in the animal's eyelids. The eye is covered breathing. by a clear scale that sheds with the rest Males may add sperm to eggs after they are laid, or may put the sperm into female's body before Males and females mate in eggs laid. Sperm added to the eggs make young order for young to start developing. The males put develop inside. Females lay eggs, which hatch sperm inside the female's Life Cycle body. Some reptiles lay eggs, into larvae which have some give birth to live young. gills & live in water(eg Young generally look like the tadpoles). These develop adults. and change into airbreathing adults. In a few kinds, the entire tadpole stage takes place in the egg or in mother's body. • Tables organize large amounts of information is a small space. • Tables present all kinds of data, from numbers and amounts, to calendars and menus. • Tables help the reader compare information in the text.

13. Byline • A byline is who wrote the article. A byline may be at the beginning or end of the article.

14. Textbox • AUTHOR PETER BENCHLEY WROTE JAWS, A BESTSELLING NOVEL ABOUT A MONSTROUS GREAT WHITE SHARK. BUT WHAT HAPPENED WHEN HE FACED ONE OF THESE CREATURES FOR REAL? BY PETER BENCHLEY How does this textbox give you insight into the article? • A textbox provides more information that is in the text about a topic. • A textbox can include interesting facts or important information the author wants the reader to know. • Textboxes help readers understand by creating interest or emphasizing important information.

15. Captions The golden toad of Costa Rica went missing in 1989. Its bright color is unusual for a toad species. However, only male golden toads were this color. Females were green or black. How does this caption help the reader understand the picture? • A caption explains what is shown in a picture or illustration. • Captions help the reader understand information that may or may not be in the text.

Different Articles Entertainment Article Science Article • Content intended for informational or leisure reading • Illustrations or photographs accompany the text • Text may be written for a general or specific audience • Technical language • Educational purpose • Visual aids such as diagrams with captions • Text written for an audience of people with an interest in science